Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Bill de Blasio

Bill de Blasio

  • Max & Murphy Podcast: The Future of the Republican Party in New York

    Joe Borelli

    City Council Member Joe Borelli (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    August 14, 2019 - Max & Murphy Podcast: The Future of the New York Republican Party

    joe borelli wbai 150 pxCity Council Member Joe Borelli, a Staten Island Republican and strong supporter of President Donald Trump, joined the show to discuss his candidacy for Public Advocate and the present and future of the New York Republican

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  • 'It's What I Was Elected To Do': State and City Leaders Take Different Approaches to Pension Fund Divestment from Fossil Fuel Companies

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    Mayor de Blasio & Comptroller Stringer (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayor's Office)


    Amid the larger discussion about addressing climate change before it’s too late, debate is raging in New York over whether government-run and -affiliated pension funds worth hundreds of billions of dollars and responsible for payments that support hundreds of thousands of retirees should divest from fossil fuel company stock.

    Advocates, elected officials, and others have been pushing at the city and state levels for full divestment so that the pension funds

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  • School Diversity Group’s Second Set of Recommendations Expected Soon; Will Take on Admissions Policies

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    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Following the city’s adoption of 62 recommendations targeting diversity and desegregation in public schools, a new report expected this month from the same advisory group will aim to tackle the tough topics of screened admissions and gifted and talented programs.

    The two reports come from the Department of Education’s School Diversity Advisory Group, which Mayor Bill de Blasio formed in 2017 amid increasing demands that he take significant steps toward desegregating the city’s highly

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  • ‘This Town Needs a Woman Mayor’: Alicia Glen Isn’t Ruling Out a 2021 Run

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    former Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    While she insists she has no intention to run at this time, former Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen is not ruling out a campaign to become New York City’s next mayor, and says the city needs a woman in charge after her former boss, Mayor Bill de Blasio, is term-limited out of office at the end of 2021.

    “Right now I have no plans to run for mayor because I think that the constant speculation about who’s running for mayor sort of distracts from what the real issue is,” she

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  • An Old, Unfair System: New York City's Property Tax Conundrum - Part III - The City's Bottom Line

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    Mayor de Blasio (photo: Rob Bennett/Mayor Bill de Blasio


    This is the third and final part of a three-part series on New York City's antiquated and unfair property tax system, its complications and inequities, the underway task of reforming it, and prospects for the future.

    Read part one - Taking on the Difficult Task - here.

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  • An Old, Unfair System: New York City’s Property Tax Conundrum - Part II - Deep and Complex Inequities

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    (photo: Edwin J. Torres/ Mayor's Office)


    This is part two of a three-part series. Read part one - Taking on the Difficult Task - here. (Skip to part three - The City's Bottom Line - here.)

    Elected officials and their critics alike have decried the complexity and inequality of the state’s property tax system.

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  • An Old, Unfair System: New York City’s Property Tax Conundrum - Part I - Taking on the Difficult Task

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    Mayor de Blasio shovels snow outside one of his two Brooklyn houses (photo: Rob Bennett/Mayor's Office)


    This is part one of a three-part series. Skip to part two - Deep and Complex Inequities - here.

    In May 2018, after years of criticism that New York City’s property tax system lacks equity, Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson announced they would empanel a commission of “blue

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  • On Presidential Campaign Trail, De Blasio Promises Paid Vacation Law ‘This Year,’ But City Council Has No Timeline

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    (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    As he campaigns for president, Mayor Bill de Blasio has repeatedly said that “this year” the city will pass a mandate that most businesses provide employees with two weeks of paid personal time each year, but the City Council, which would have to pass such legislation, has not committed to the timeline the mayor is touting.

    De Blasio first announced his support for paid personal leave and said it would get done “this year” in his January ...

  • ‘Nobody Should Enter the Criminal Justice System for Something Related to Mental Illness’

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    Chirlane McCray on Rikers Island (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    A rising number of 911 calls to report emotionally disturbed persons, several fatal encounters between police officers and people with serious mental illness, and an increasing percentage of seriously mentally ill people among those detained in city jails have all raised questions about how New York City and State provide care for those suffering from the most serious mental illnesses.

    These questions and concerns don’t have easy answers. The city’s public

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  • City Officials Debate What To Do About Taxi Medallion Debt Crisis

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    Council Members Levine & Rivera & drivers rally at City Hall (photo: Jeff Reed)


    City Council Speaker Corey Johnson asked what sounded like a simple question: should the Taxi & Limousine Commission apologize for its role in the taxi medallion debt crisis, in which thousands of taxi owner-drivers have been trapped in predatory loans unchecked by city and state watchdogs?

    Jeffrey Roth, nominated by Mayor Bill de Blasio to lead the TLC, failed to give a direct “yes” or “no.” Johnson asked

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  • As De Blasio Promises Paid Personal Time, Small Business Owners Push Back

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    (photo: Edwin J. Torres. Mayoral Photo Office)


    The City Council took steps Tuesday aimed at addressing what some have described as a crisis of small business closures across the city.

    Passing a package of bills that now head to Mayor Bill de Blasio for approval or veto, the Council is seeking to mandate more city outreach to small business and studies of business closures. The legislation does not, however, directly address concerns expressed by members of the business community about over-regulation.

    Under de Blasio and two

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  • Preparing Our City’s Youth for the World of Work Through CareerReady NYC

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    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    In recent years, New York City has racked up a series of impressive gains within the systems that prepare our youth for work and careers. The question is whether this progress will be enough for the city’s youth to navigate a rapidly changing labor market and achieve steady work and economic security. 

    While the economic expansion of recent years has swept many young adults into the workforce, most of these new workers are not on pathways to upward mobility. Part of that is the

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  • New State Rent Regulations Complicate Inwood Rezoning Lawsuit Against the City

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    Inwood (photo: Emil Cohen/City Council)


    New York state government’s recent rent regulation reforms gave tenant advocates reason to celebrate, eliminating major loopholes that allowed landlords to raise rents and deregulate units among the roughly 1 million city apartments currently governed by the rent laws. One unforeseen consequence of the new Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, however, is how the strengthened regulations may imperil a tenant lawsuit against New York City government on the impacts of a recent neighborhood rezoning of Inwood,

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  • City Task Force to Help ‘Most Vulnerable Young New Yorkers’ is Well Behind Schedule

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    Council Member Mathieu Eugene (photo: William Alatriste/City Council)


    A task force created in 2017 by City Council legislation aimed at providing better services and more opportunities for out-of-work, out-of-school youth and young adults has been delayed from the start, having met only a few times since its creation and now more than a year overdue in presenting its first report as mandated by law.

    The City Council, with help from nonprofit advocacy group and service-provider JobsFirstNYC and other outside partners, passed a bill that

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  • Advocates See Irony in Cuomo's Thinly-Veiled Shots at De Blasio Over City Problems

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    Cuomo & de Blasio (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    Governor Andrew Cuomo believes in action, rather than rhetoric, and rarely shies away from criticizing those who he believes fail to live up to their promises, including his fellow Democrats. He’s also appeared particularly irritated by the ascendent progressive wing of the Democratic Party, which has challenged him, unfairly he argues, and offers what he says are pie-in-the-sky talking points over the types of achievable results he’s delivered.

    Cuomo brought the

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  • Struggling with Overcrowded Schools and Large Class Sizes, City Advances $8.8 Billion Plan

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    Mayor de Blasio & others break ground for a new East New York school (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    Some days, it can be hard for Arthur Goldstein to walk down the hallway of Francis Lewis High School in Queens, where he teaches English as a second language. Goldstein’s school is one of 25 overcrowded schools in the 26th school district, and has a utilization rate of 207 percent, according to a 2018 Department of Education ...

  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Police Reform Movement is Focused on Officer Accountability

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    (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    July 10, 2019 - Max & Murphy Podcast: the Police Reform Movement is Focused on NYPD Officer Accountability

    anthonine pierre bmc wbai 150Anthonine Pierre of Brooklyn Movement Center and Communities United for Police Reform joined the show to discuss what police reformers are focused on right now, Mayor de Blasio's record

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  • Scott Stringer Has a Plan for That

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    Comptroller Scott Stringer (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayor's Office)


    New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer has made no secret of his plans to run for mayor in 2021, when both he and Mayor Bill de Blasio will be term-limited out of their current positions. And the outline of his mayoral policy platform is already hiding in plain sight.

    After briefly entering the 2013 mayoral campaign before shifting to a first successful run for comptroller, Stringer has spent a long

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  • 'We're Moving Now': City Pursues School Desegregation Measures, with Major Looming Test

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    Chancellor Carranza & Mayor de Blasio (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York City schools Chancellor Richard Carranza announced on June 10 that the city will adopt 62 recommendations focused on diversity and integration in public schools, focusing on middle and elementary schools, from the Department of Education’s School Diversity Advisory Group, a new step toward school desegregation as many students, families, educators, and others have waited years for the city to make progress.

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  • De Blasio Reps Sought to Kill Police Accountability Measure

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    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Less than a week after arguments ended in the high-profile NYPD administrative trial of Officer Daniel Pantaleo, the administration of Mayor de Blasio waged an effort to block a significant reform aimed at preventing and punishing lying by police officers during investigations of misconduct.

    One commissioner on the 2019 New York City Charter Revision Commission says members were contacted by a representative of the mayor in advance of a vote earlier this month on whether to move to the November election ballot a

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  • How De Blasio Fared in Albany This Year

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    Mayor de Blasio with Senate Leader Stewart-Cousins (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Democrats in control of the state Legislature for the first time in a decade ended a whirlwind legislative session last week, having notched a raft of progressive victories that were denied to them when Republicans controlled the state Senate. 

    At a news conference in Albany on Friday, Governor Andrew Cuomo declared it the “the most productive legislative session in modern history,” and in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio agreed.

    “As we tally up the

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  • City to Launch 5 Cross-Agency Projects to Fight Poverty-Related Challenges

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    (photo: Demetrius Freeman/Mayoral Photography Office)


    The de Blasio administration is hoping to address challenges faced by struggling New Yorkers and fight poverty by improving access to city services through five new initiatives that will launch July 1, the start of the next city fiscal year.

    The five projects, overseen and funded by the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity, cut across city agencies and involve a diverse set of goals: increasing school attendance for students in temporary housing; expanding education

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  • De Blasio Administration Doesn't Support Council Bill to Create Department of Sustainability & Climate Change

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    Council Member Constantinides (photo: Jeff Reed/City Council)


    At a recent hearing of the City Council Committee on Environmental Protection, the de Blasio administration expressed its opposition to a bill that would establish a New York City Department of Sustainability and Climate Change.

    The bill, Intro. 1399, was introduced in February by Council Member Costa Constantinides, a Queens Democrat and chair of the environmental protection committee.

    It would make New York City among the first in the nation to implement a municipal-level

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  • The Fading Promise of Property Tax Reform

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    (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    Despite promising that in his second term he would take on the challenge of property tax reform, Mayor de Blasio appears to be shying away as many leaders have done many times before.

    New York City government is extremely dependent upon its property tax, which will generate roughly $30 billion this coming fiscal year, more than any other single revenue source. Not surprisingly, New Yorkers gripe about their property taxes almost as much as about the subways.

    The laws and methods

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  • Assessing Vision Zero Amid a Spike in Traffic Fatalities

    Vision Zero

    (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    Soon after Mayor Bill de Blasio stepped into office in 2014, he championed Vision Zero, a signature street safety program with the goal of reducing traffic-related fatalities from 297 in 2013 to zero by 2024. About halfway through that ten-year timeline, the program has become a significant de Blasio success, even as some advocates and lawmakers have said the administration could and should be moving ahead faster to protect pedestrians and bikers, and limit deference to cars.

    Through increasing the number of protected bike

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